All That

Brian Robbins and Michael Tollin created the show, and the head writer was Dan Schneider who also became the showrunner of the series in the third season. All That marked the beginning of Schneider's prolific career in creating and writing hit television series for young audiences. The New York Times, in separate articles, referred to Schneider as "the Norman Lear of children's television"[8] and "the master of a television genre".[9]

In 1986, Robbins and Schneider met while working on the ABC sitcom Head of the Class.[10] Becoming close friends, the two performers both shared a mutual interest in writing, eventually coming together to write and then pitch an episode to the show's producers just to see if they could do it.[10] To their amazement, the producers liked their idea and bought it. Their episode ("Will the Real Arvid Engen Please Stand Up") later aired during the show's second season.

Exterior of the former Nickelodeon Studios where All That was filmed for its first two seasons

Following the success of Head of the Class, Robbins and Schneider were asked to co-host the second annual Kids Choice Awards in 1988 alongside Tony Danza and Debbie Gibson.[11] Although they were unaware of the fledgling Nickelodeon cable channel, the two agreed to participate. The award ceremony that year was produced by Albie Hecht, with whom Robbins and Schneider quickly struck up a friendship.[10] Their friendship continued after the awards, and Hecht suggested they develop something for Nickelodeon. Robbins and Schneider declined his offer, as they were still under contract with ABC.[10]

By 1991, Head of the Class ended its run and Robbins started a production company with producer friend Mike Tollin, aptly named Tollin/Robbins Productions.[3] The company originally produced several small budget sport documentaries.[12] Hecht, now Head of Development for Nickelodeon, contacted them and asked them to film a project for the network. The half-hour documentary they made featured the network's game show hosts Phil Moore (Nick Arcade) and Mike O'Malley (Get the Picture and Nickelodeon GUTS) as co-hosts of a comedy tour as they drove around to different cities to perform.[3] Since their schedule only permitted for two days of filming, Tollin/Robbins had to make the entire show appear as if they had toured around the country.[3]

Impressed with the final product, Hecht later met with Robbins to discuss developing something; asking Robbins if there was any type of show that he would be interested in making.[3] Robbins pitched an idea of creating a kid-version of Saturday Night Live. He brought Tollin and Schneider (as head writer) along to help develop the show. The three were influenced by classic sketch shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, You Can't Do That on Television and Laugh In,[3] and began to flesh out a rough idea of the show's format.[3][10] Schneider decided against writing the pilot episode and instead chose to compile the cast first. Usually, in television, the pilot is written first and the cast is assembled later.[10] However, the three believed it was crucial to find the right actors first and then tailor to their strengths.[3][10] A nationwide talent search for child and teen actors was launched that would last for several months.[3] Eventually, Angelique Bates, Lori Beth Denberg, Katrina Johnson, Kel Mitchell, Alisa Reyes, Josh Server, and Kenan Thompson were hired.

When I first got involved, it was kind of funny. My mom had me in a talent show, I was one of the winners. [An agent] had his friend there, who was the one that got me on [All That]. ... The process itself was, oh my gosh. We did 10 auditions. I thought I didn't have it. They had us doing improv, sketches, all kinds of stuff. I went in fully dressed as Urkel. I was doing character voices. I had the glasses, I had the suspenders, everything. You name it, I had it. I got called a couple months later like, "Oh, you know you got it." It was crazy because it was a nationwide [search].[3]

— Bates

The reason I got the audition was 'cause I was in a drama competition for high school and my scene placed first in competition. So there's lots of different categories and all the first-place teams in all the categories had a showcase at Paramount Studios at like this little theater. And some of the producers for All That were there. So after that a few of us from the competition got called in to audition. So I just went on it like a total lark, not like it was some big deal. Just kind of a goof. And that was my first audition for All That. I wasn't nervous 'cause I wasn't really taking it seriously. But that, in hindsight, served me really well. I had one callback, which was a little more interesting. I mean, I had the feeling when I went back for the callback that I was gonna be cast. I can't necessarily explain it, but I just had this feeling like I'm gonna do this show. Which was really strange because I'd never done a show before. So I just went, I did the material, I met some more of the people and then I left. And I had this feeling about it.[3]

— Denberg

Mine was a casting call, but it was set up through my agent and I had to go back in like five times. And each time, I would get paired up with other random people to do sketch comedy but it was very off-the-cuff, like no script or plan or anything. It was like, you're miners, mining for gold in Sicily, and we'd have to figure it out. But that happened to be my favorite sort of thing that I'd always loved best...I had no idea what I was in for, but I knew it was going to be the ride of my life. I knew it was going to be fun. I never wanted anything as much before. This one felt like home, this one felt like me and I felt very excited. But no, I don't think we had any idea what we were in for.[3]

— Johnson

The original cast with Robbins, Schneider, Tollin, and others

They did a nationwide search, and I remember that day, I had midterms at school, but I also had to learn my monologue because I had the audition later that day. I remember Brian Robbins was there and a few of the other producers. I came in and I totally forgot my monologue, because I had been studying for midterms and I never do that. As I was walking out, I tripped over some cords and knocked over some cameras and all this stuff. And I played it off like it was funny and they started just cracking up, laughing. I came back in, knocked the monologue out and then they were, like, hey, man, you know, you're really funny. Do you do any impersonations, as well? I just did, like, my uncles and, you know, people that I knew in Chicago, old man voices and I even did the [Good Burger] Ed voice for the first time there.[3]

— Mitchell

In my audition, I had to do a stand-up comedy act in conjunction with an audition scene and so I just remember in the monologue I wrote about, like, my sister having long hair in her underarms and we were eating breakfast. [Laughs] The hair would get into my pancake syrup. I just was being cheesy and crazy. And when I went in there, it was funny because I just felt like it was all very natural. It was all very organic. I was in the right place at the right time and they got me. I was blessed enough that Brian Robbins and Dan Schneider and Michael Tollin, they totally got me but it literally took me seven auditions to get this gig. And this is probably the most auditions that I ever had to audition for before because, I mean, who auditions for something seven times?.[3]

— Reyes

I was one of the two kids chosen from Chicago. Me and Kel got picked from the Chicago group. I remember that it was more than one audition. I think it was probably close to two to three, maybe even four. They brought us in quite a bit. They wanted us to do some of our characters and then some impressions. I remember originally meeting the casting people and then, you know, Brian and Dan and the producers of the show being in those auditions and going in and doing my sketch characters. And it was a lot of fun. Anytime you get to do those types of auditions, it's pretty cool because it's your stuff, you know, and when you're a kid, that's pretty rare.[3]

— Server

[I was introduced] to Brian and Michael Tollin. I was the last to be chosen [for the show]. [There weren't a lot of auditions.] I just did the one and they told me whether or not I had it. I went into the office and did impressions and stuff. The first Mighty Ducks, that was my first movie. Once I got into real movies, then started the commercials, [then TV].[3]

— Thompson

With the cast intact, writing began. The basic concept for the series was a half-hour show that featured a cold open (which featured the cast participating in varying juvenile acts in a green room or around the studio before the show starts), several different sketches; including "runners" (short little sketches), and then a musical performance to close out the episode.[3][10] The main staple was the Vital Information sketch which would go on to be featured in every show through the end of the sixth season (some people compared it to the SNL longest running sketch Weekend Update).[3] Cast and crew flew out to Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Orlando to shoot the pilot in front of a studio audience on January 17, 1994.[3] After filming was completed, the pilot was shelved as screenings did not test well with the focus groups,[3][10] consisting of children, both boys and girls in different age groups, that Nickelodeon used. The scores showed that "Kids probably wouldn't like this new sketch comedy show for kids".[3][10] Regardless of the negative response, Geraldine Laybourne (then President of Nickelodeon) decided to pick the series up.[3]

Nickelodeon on Sunset, at 6230 Sunset Boulevard, as seen in May 2011. All That was filmed here until its cancellation in 2005.

During the first season, writing partners Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert were brought on as producers and continued working in that capacity through the third season. They continued their relationship with Thompson and Mitchell by co-executive producing and head writing the spin-off series Kenan & Kel and eventually writing the feature film Good Burger (1997) with Schneider.

After production on the second season wrapped in 1996, the show moved out of the old Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. The network, interested in moving production of their live-action series to the West Coast began scouting sound stages in California. Production for the third season was completed at the Paramount Pictures studio before Nickelodeon obtained a lease for the 6230 Sunset Boulevard facility. During this period, Bates left the show and was replaced by Amanda Bynes. A Nickelodeon producer discovered Amanda while she attended a children's comedy camp at LA's Laugh Factory.[13] At the end of the third season, Johnson and Reyes departed the show.

In 1997, the Sunset Boulevard property was acquired and branded as Nickelodeon on Sunset (formerly The Earl Carrol Theater).[14][15] Production for the series would remain here till the end of the tenth season in 2005. The fourth season began with the additions of Leon Frierson, Christy Knowings, and Danny Tamberelli to the cast. Knowings and Tamberelli were known to Nickelodeon producers having both participated in other projects for the network. Knowings was discovered while taping the pilot for Nickelodeon series called And Now This; the show wasn't picked up. Tamberelli was the star of The Adventures of Pete & Pete show, and guest starred on the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out and befriended Kopelow.[16] At the end of the fourth season, Denberg and Schneider departed the show. Schneider initially left the series to create his own sitcom, and later took over a fledgling pilot for Bynes that would become The Amanda Show.[17]

For the fifth season, Kopelow and Seifert took over Schneider's responsibilities as head writers and co-executive producers. Added to the cast were Nick Cannon and Mark Saul. Although a teenager at the time, Cannon had worked as the audience warm up and writer for the show before joining the cast.[16] On March 13, 1999, All That celebrated its star-studded "100th episode", although it was actually the 86th episode to be aired.[18] The 100th episode featured several celebrities: Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains It All), Larisa Oleynik (Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack), Robert Ri'chard (Nickelodeon's Cousin Skeeter), and Britney Spears (in a taped video appearance; Spears was originally supposed to perform in person but had to back out due to a knee injury and Lauryn Hill took her place) all made appearances; with Bates, Denberg, Johnson and Reyes appearing as well.[18]

After the 100th episode, the show won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite TV Show on May 1, 1999.[19] The fifth season ended with the departures of Mitchell and Thompson. Stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias was hired to replace the two for the following season.[16] The abbreviated sixth season was followed by a nationwide summer tour titled All That Music and More Festival hosted by the cast and featured musical guests. Kopelow, Seifert and the entire cast left the series soon after. In their absence, Schneider returned as showrunner.

In 2000, All That was put on hiatus to be relaunched with a new cast. During the hiatus, Nickelodeon ran a series of specials. Production for the seventh season started back up a year later after an extensive nationwide talent search for child and teen actors. Ultimately hired were Chelsea Brummet, Jack DeSena, Lisa Foiles, Bryan Hearne, Shane Lyons, Giovonnie Samuels, and Kyle Sullivan. The format of the series remained roughly the same as the original seasons, but episodes now featured a weekly host who would appear alongside the cast in sketches (the weekly host was gradually fazed out of the show later on). Vital Information was also dropped, and replaced with a new segment called Know Your Stars which would appear regularly.[20][21] The first episode of the "new" All That featured special guests Frankie Muniz and Aaron Carter and debuted on January 19, 2002.[22]

The eighth season opened with the addition of Jamie Lynn Spears to the cast and marked the beginning of All That cast members attempting dares on the SNICK program Snick On-Air Dare.[23][24] Occasionally, On Air Dares had special guests from other shows.[25] Hearne left the series just as Nickelodeon advertised a competition called R U All That?: Nickelodeon's Search for the Funniest Kid in America. The grand prize of the competition was an opportunity to become a cast member. After this contest ended in 2003, the finals aired on July 26, 2003. The contest picked five finalists, and all of them performed a sketch with the current cast. The winner was Christina Kirkman who would officially join the cast in ninth season. The competition's runner-up Ryan Coleman would join the cast later that year. At the end of the ninth season, Lyons, Samuels, and Spears departed the series. Spears left to focus on a new Nickelodeon show created by Dan Schneider called Zoey 101.[26]

In 2005, the tenth season began with a celebration of the show's tenth anniversary. Nickelodeon celebrated the anniversary of All That by airing episodes from the first six seasons in the week leading up to a "reunion special" on April 23, 2005 hosted by Muniz and featuring Ashanti and Bow Wow as the musical guests. The special featured the cast from the original series and relaunch performing in sketches together. And, after a hiatus, the Vital Information sketch was brought back with BET's Coming to the Stage winner Lil' JJ as the anchor. The special also introduced Kianna Underwood and Denzel Whitaker as new cast members.[4] Approximately 6.2 million total viewers watched the special on both its April 23 and 24 airings, making it the top cable or broadcast program for the 2–11, 6–11, and 9–14 age demographics,[27] and TV.com gave it a rating of 8.7/10.[28][4]

Chronologically, the anniversary special and season were filmed in the fall of 2004, then Nickelodeon came to air them the following year. After the anniversary, the new season began airing a week later. The tenth season would mark the end of the relaunch era of the show as Foiles announced the show's cancellation in September 2005 via social media. The entire cast and Schneider moved on from the series. Schneider would go on to have a successful career creating television programs for the Nickelodeon network.

In the fall of 2018, Brian Robbins, co-creator of the series, was formally announced as the new president of Nickelodeon.[29] Now in charge of the company's programming unit, Robbins expressed interest in a revival of the show, saying, in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, that:

I would've never, ever, ever canceled the show. It should've been [Nickelodeon's] Saturday Night Live. All That was a very sophisticated show. Young humor, but the level of comedy on that show was sophisticated.

— Robbins

The show's second relaunch was announced as part of Nickelodeon's 2019 content slate on February 14, 2019.[30] On May 14, 2019, it was announced that the show would premiere on June 15, 2019, with Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell serving as executive producers, and cameo appearances from original cast members Lori Beth Denberg, Alisa Reyes, and Josh Server. Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert also returned to the show as consulting producers.[7] However, Dan Schneider, former executive producer of the series, will not be involved with the second relaunch as Nickelodeon had cut ties with Schneider in 2018.[31]

By 2017, Nickelodeon had ceased all operations at the Nickelodeon on Sunset lot and the property was later sold.[32] Production for the revival series is set to be done at The Burbank Studios (formerly known as NBC Studios) in Burbank, California.[33] The new cast was officially revealed on Today with Hoda & Jenna on May 29, 2019. They included Ryan Alessi, Reece Caddell, Kate Godfrey, Gabrielle Green, Nathan Janak, Lex Lumpkin, and Chinguun Sergelen.[34][35][5] An expanded episode order, adding 13 episodes to the initial 13, was announced in October 2019, along with Aria Brooks being added to the cast starting with episode 14.[36]

In celebration of the show's return to Nickelodeon, a Good Burger pop-up location opened to fans in Santa Monica, California. With the purchase of a ticket, guests have access to a menu inspired by the sketch and film, a small arcade, and memorabilia and set pieces.[37]

Kenan & Kel is an American teen comedy sitcom created by Kim Bass for Nickelodeon. It starred then-All That cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.[52] Sixty-five episodes and a made-for-TV movie were produced over four seasons. The first two seasons were filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, and the remaining two were filmed at the Nick on Sunset theater in Hollywood.

The Amanda Show is an American live action sketch comedy and variety show that aired on Nickelodeon from October 16, 1999, to September 21, 2002. It starred Amanda Bynes, Drake Bell, and Nancy Sullivan, along with several performing artists who came and left at different points.

The premise of the semi-scripted show was that its star, Nick Cannon, a former cast member on All That, would come across a situation he thought needed changing and then "take over" to make things better, or at least funnier.

All That made one effort in developing a popular sketch into a feature-length film with Good Burger. Co-creator Mike Tollin said:

You get something like Good Burger and you just ride it, and all of a sudden there's something called Nickelodeon Movies, put under the banner of Paramount. It was a big synergy. We just took a shot. ... There was an unforgettable day when we went to Paramount with a script. The Paramount execs were interested enough to come to a table read. I don't believe any money had been spent. We realized this was a huge opportunity. Kenan and Kel came and we filled in with other actors. ... It was late January 1997, and he (John Goldwyn a senior executive at Paramount [came back and said], "The good news is we're going to make this movie; the bad news is it needs to be in theaters in July." The typical gestation period for movies is five to seven years. Brian signed up to direct and we shot the film locally, built Good Burger, brought in Sinbad, brought in Jenny, brought in the whole cast of characters. Twenty years later I got a call from my niece from Chicago who said, "I just watched the best movie." That thing worked.[3]

The movie was released into theaters on July 25, 1997, with a budget of roughly $10 million. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 32% based on reviews from 38 critics.[53] Most praise came to Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson's performances. Although the film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, it received positive reviews from fans and it was a financial success.

On November 26, 1996, Nickelodeon released an All That CD titled All That: The Album. It contains All That dialogues from the show, and songs sung by musical guests (i.e. Faith Evans, Coolio, Brandy, Naughty By Nature, etc.). All That's theme opening and outro theme were released on this CD. Music from the CD is mainly inspired by the show.[54]

On October 1, 1998, Nickelodeon released a 112-page book of All That called All That: Fresh out the Box by Steve Holland. The book contains information of the show's sketches, cast members and notable points of the show. It also contains different character information as well.[55]

On June 30, 2000, Nickelodeon gave All That a promotional summer tour titled All That Music and More Festival, which traveled all over the United States and was hosted by the cast of All That. The tour began after Season 6 and lasted until September 3, 2000. The tour mainly featured the cast members of All That and a musical guest. Many of the musical guests joined and performed during the tour. Also while the tour went on, the cast members did numerous live sketches.[56] There was also a ticket contest the year before the festival began.[57] On July 29, 2000, Nickelodeon broadcast the highlights and events that happened during the entire festival.[58]

On August 15, 2011, the iTunes Store released All That: Volume 1 with the first seven episodes from season two. On November 29, 2011, the iTunes Store released All That: Volume 2 with seven more episodes from season two. All That: Volume 3 was released in 2012 with seven episodes from season two. Just like The '90s Are All That airings, the musical guest performances are omitted and the end credits are re-done as generic white text on black.[59] All That Volume 4, with episodes from the start of season 3, was released on iTunes August 13, 2012; however, episodes 40 and 43 are excluded for unknown reasons with episodes 45 and 46 included instead.

On June 24, 2013, the iTunes Store released All That: Retro Essentials with four episodes from season two. The episodes are 217, 220, 228, 237. Episodes 217, 220 and 228 were re-released with the musical guest performances. Episode 237 has the musical guest edited out.